Main menu

A qualifying infraction will move points leader Sebastian Vettel from third to the back of the pack to start Sunday's race at Abu Dhabi. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull penalized; Vettel moved to back of grid in Abu Dhabi

November 2, 2012

Share

Facebook

Tweet

Pinterest

Email

Formula One points leader Sebastian Vettel will start the Abu Dhabi GP from the back of the grid after being excluded from qualifying for failing to have enough fuel for a sample left in the car.

Like Lewis Hamilton in Spain this year, Vettel was investigated for stopping on track at the end of the session without good reason in order to ensure that he had a fuel sample for scrutinizing.

However, the team was able to convince the stewards that the stoppage was an unavoidable problem with the car, unlike what happened with McLaren in Barcelona—but there was insufficient fuel to provide a sample, so he was excluded for that under Article 6.6.2 of the F1 technical regulations, rather than for stopping.

Vettel had originally qualified third behind Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, and the decision means that title rival Fernando Alonso moves up from seventh to sixth.

Vettel leads Alonso by just 13 points in the season standings.

Speaking to the media after qualifying, Vettel said, “I don't why I was asked to stop. I think probably some problem. It shouldn't be something major.”

Vettel had endured a scrappy session, in large part because he did hardly any laps in FP3 due to brake problems.

“Obviously this morning wasn't ideal, not being able to run,” he explained after the session. “So we didn't get probably the answers that we were hoping for. Nevertheless, this afternoon we were settling in quite well and the pace was there, but I think as Mark touched on, McLaren, in particular Lewis, are pretty quick. So they were out of reach today.

“I'm not entirely happy with my qualifying, the last part of qualifying was quite tricky for me. I think I should have been a little bit quicker, whether it would have been enough to beat Mark. Obviously he's on a different sheet of paper, but all in all I think we can be quite happy. Race pace should be good tomorrow. As we know it's a long race here and there's a lot of things that can happen, so looking forward to tomorrow.”

Updated F1 Grid

After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday

At Yas Marina Circuit

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Lap length: 3.451 miles

Third Session

1. Lewis Hamilton, England, McLaren, 1 minute, 40.630 seconds.

2. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 1:40.978.

3. Pastor Maldonado, Venezuela, Williams, 1:41.226.

4. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Lotus, 1:41.260.

5. Jenson Button, England, McLaren, 1:41.290.

6. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Ferrari, 1:41.582.

7. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes, 1:41.603.

8. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 1:41.723.

9. Romain Grosjean, France, Lotus, 1:41.778.

Eliminated after second session

10. Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Force India, 1:42.019.

11. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Sauber, 1:42.084.

12. Paul di Resta, Scotland, Force India, 1:42.218.

13. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Mercedes, 1:42.289.

14. Bruno Senna, Brazil, Williams, 1:42.330.

15. Kamui Kobayashi, Japan, Sauber, 1:42.606.

16. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Toro Rosso, 1:42.765.

Eliminated after first session

17. Jean-Eric Vergne, France, Toro Rosso, 1:44.058.

18. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, Caterham, 1:44.956.

19. Charles Pic, France, Marussia, 1:45.089.

20. Vitaly Petrov, Russia, Caterham, 1:45.151.

21. Timo Glock, Germany, Marussia, 1:45.426.

22. Pedro de la Rosa, Spain, HRT, 1:45.766.

23. Narain Karthikeyan, India, HRT, 1:46.382.

24. x-Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 1:41.073.

x-finished third, disqualified for rules breach, dropped to last on grid.